Love & Other Theories by Alexis Bass (Review)

I received a free copy from the publishers via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

First Impressions:
I can’t say, at all, that I’m a fan of Love and Other Theories. I disliked a lot of the characters and disagreed a lot with their malicious actions towards other people, particularly Chiffon. I can see how other people would really love it, but too much nastiness going on for me.

Review:
Aubrey and her three best friends — Shelby, Danica and Melissa — have all made it to their last year of high school completely heartbreak free. It’s all thanks to a few rules, the theories, such as don’t commit, don’t be needy, and don’t mention the G word — (girlfriend, in case you’re wondering). But when Nathan Diggs, the new kid, falls into Aubreys life, it makes her learn the hard way that the theories are a load of bull.

I put up with all the bullying and generally shaming other girls for not being as ‘evolved’ as they were for about 30-40%, hoping it would VERY SOON be contributing to some serious character development, but unfortunately, Aubrey and her friends remained AWFUL people till about 70% through. Not only did they completely disgrace their previous best friend, Chiffon, for YEARS (throwing around rumours of STDs, calling her a slut etc.), but they shamed other girls for not being like them. Sexual freedom is completely fine by me. I think girls should be able to have whatever freedom they wish. But what makes Aubrey and Shelby horrible is that they bully and put down other girls for wanting a committed relationship along with sex and for wanting to be girlfriend-boyfriend and for not being as sexually active as they were. Unless of course they were in their friend group in which was PERFECTLY OK. Eventually they got over their shallowness but it took way to long for it to have any sort of impact on me.

Also, in a complete turn of events I ended up really liking Trent the jock who was a bit of a player over Nathan Diggs, the sweet and unassuming guy.

Overall, I can totally see how others would absolutely adore this, but the characters arrogant and patronising attitude really brought it down for me.